This survey monitors sentiment towards the events in Greece in the light of the referendum on accepting or rejecting the agreement with the country’s creditors. Social media comments, blog posts, forum discussions, and comments in news media outlets were analysed to outline public attitudes in eight countries in Southeast Europe (SEE). Read more

The Sofia office market has reached the tipping point from which investment and development offer a sizable opportunity. The retail market, in particular in Sofia and other big cities, is relatively saturated. The industrial real estate market in Bulgaria offers a large field for new project development while the opportunities for investment remain limited. Read more

LAUNCHub is a 9.0 million euro seed fund, based in Bulgaria, investing in the most promising startups in Southeast Europe (SEE). Since 2012, LAUNCHub has invested over 3.5 million euro in 47 portfolio companies. Over 140 founders have joined the big family and in less than two years have managed to attract a further 3.5 million euro-plus of follow-on funding. As of September 2014, LAUNCHub’s portfolio includes companies from nine countries in SEE – Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece, Ukraine, Austria and Switzerland. Read more

The slow recovery in the European Union, Southeast Europe’s (SEE) main trading partner, the sluggish prospects facing nearly all economies in the region and shrunken domestic demand all left their mark on corporate bottomlines in 2013. At the same time, long overdue structural reforms, fiscal and regulatory volatility and poor infrastructure continued to be a drag on local businesses. Against this backdrop, the performance of the companies in the SEE TOP 100 ranking was expectedly lackluster – their combined revenues in 2013 were flattish, with nearly half of the entrants seeing a decline in their revenues. Read more

The market capitalisation of the entrants in the 2013 edition of the SEE TOP 100 listed companies ranking totaled 44.7 billion euro, compared to 39 billion euro for the firms that made the 2012 list. Most entrants in the ranking – 65, saw their market capitalisation rise, with 30 posting a decline. Read more

The patchy performance of the economies of the countries in Southeast Europe (SEE) proved a drag on the region’s insurance industry in 2013, leading to a drop of 2.0% to 6.2 billion euro in the combined gross written premiums (GWP) of the entrants in the 2013 edition of the SEE TOP 100 insurers ranking compared to the companies that made the 2012 cut. Read more

Energy companies continued to dominate the 2013 SEE money losers ranking with 13 representatives, unchanged from a year earlier. Serbian state-owned gas monopoly Srbijagas remained the biggest money loser in the region, its loss widening to 434.9 million euro. Read more

Slovenian companies continue to dominate the SEE TOP 100 per capita ranking but their lead is dwindling, with Croatia and Serbia slowly closing the gap. Almost half the entrants in the ranking are energy companies. Read more

Romania had the highest number of entrants in the ranking of the most profitable companies in Southeast Europe (SEE) in 2013. The best represented industry in the ranking was energy, with nine companies. Read more

Most of the lenders in the SEE TOP 100 banks ranking closed 2013 in the black but the overall loss of the sector widened to 2.18 billion euro, due to the heavy losses booked by Slovenian banks. With the exception of Slovenia, the banking system in Southeast Europe (SEE), however, managed to stay stable, although continuing to struggle with high non-performing loan (NPL) ratios, weak lending growth and subdued economic growth. The ranking was dominated by Romanian lenders, which accounted for nearly a quarter of the total assets of the banks in the region. Read more

The oil and gas industry, the biggest in the region, posted a slight decline in total revenue and a sharp fall in profit. Pharmaceuticals remained the most profitable industry with a 13.35% return on revenue. Read more

Energy companies booked the majority of Southeast Europe’s heftiest corporate losses in 2012 as 13 oil, gas and electricity firms made the TOP 20 money losers ranking of predominantly heavy-industry entries.
Companies that turned 2011 bottom lines into SEE’s biggest losses took the top four spots in the 2012 standings. Read more

The transport infrastructure of SEE consists of national transport systems and a number of integrated international networks that upon their completion should ensure quick and unhampered movement of people and goods across Europe. This makes the integrated European transport system a key prerequisite for the seamless operation of the internal market and for the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the European countries. Read more

SEE hosts 61 business schools across ten countries, according to compiled data in a survey carried out by SeeNews Research & Profiles on MBA training in English in the region. These universities offer some 90 MBA programmes, either full-time or part-time. While not widespread, distance learning, which provides more flexibility, is also available. Read more

Given the difficulties faced by the eurozone and the disastrous macroeconomic conditions in Greece and Italy, the stable picture in SEE suggests that smaller boats could survive more easily in rough waters. Read more

SeeNews is an independent worldwide provider of business news and market intelligence with focus on the emerging markets. SeeNews is preparing an annual ranking of the best performing companies in the region of Southeast Europe, called SeeNews TOP 100 SEE.